Objectives and the audience of regional radio of Sri Lanka:A Study of “Rajarata and Wayamba handa” Radio

Abstract

The Radio service of Sri Lanka Was decentralized at a time when the entire country could not be covered by the National Radio service. As a result of this, regional radio services were set up in remote areas of Sri Lanka. This services ware operated in accordance with the series of specific objectives such as to remove the monopoly of the national radio and take the microphone to the village and give priority to the regional specialties. At present theses regional radio services are at a risk practically and conceptually. The purpose of this research is to focus on the nature of implementation and timeliness of objectives. The first regional radio service ―Rajarata Sewaya‖ and ―Wayamba Handa‖ radio service which was setup last, have been used as the research area. In this research four methodologies were used in order to collect data. They are, giving questionnaires to hundred targeted listeners, conducting in-depth interviews with 20 prominent persons in the relevant field, participatory observations and content analysis. Irregular objectives which were formulated when setting up regional radio services are inadequate by today. The researcher‘s recommendation is to operate the regional radio services in accordance with a series of new objectives and also suggest a set of new objectives.